What's that noise?
by hidden stranger
Summary: Something is disturbing the peaceful slumber of one of the zoo's animals one evening, prompting an investigation to what and where this sound is occuring from, what will two mammals find in the search for the sound? Prequel to By Your Side.


A/N, Hey there everyone reading this, I hope your graduations went well! I meant for this to be put up for a while now but am just getting to it, this is actually a prequel to the story By your Side, an emotional fic between king Julien and an OC I came up with earlier. This takes place before the events of that story just to keep everyone on track, glad you are reading this and feel free to tell me what you think!

Maurice sighed as he lay on his back in the bounce castle, his eyes facing the stars that gleamed down upon him in a rich enchanting glow. He'd been awoken by something, yet he wasn't sure what. Looking to his right and left side he noticed his roommates still sound asleep. King Julien lay on his back as well, his head tilted back and mouth open as he slowly breathed in his nose and through his mouth. His crown lay atop his belly, a gray and black finger tipped paw resting over it in an unconscious security measure. Mort lay mere inches away from his side, curled up in the length of Julien's tail and his own, an innocence in his features that trumped Bambi eyes. Maurice cheeked a grin and laid back down and closed his eyes, allowing sleep to overtake him once again, he needed his strength for tomorrow's schedule he and the lemur king had set up in touring the city during the closed day they had due to maintenance.

Within minutes again though, the rounded lemur's eyes were forced to open up to the starry night sky that stared back at him. Maurice groaned, laying a paw over his eyes,

"what...is the problem here? I earned this nap didn't I?" He grumbled, shutting his eyes tightly again, trying to keep from allowing his building aggravation from overtaking him. The noise returned once more, a pitch higher this time with a pleading tone in it. Maurice groaned and turned to his king, he knew it could be a mistake waking the ring tail from his slumber, but he also remembered the punishment for not alerting his king whenever something went on without his awareness of it. Biting his lip and bracing for one angry lemur, Maurice softly shook his king's shoulder to bring him to.

The lemur returned this with a pained whine,

"wwwwhhhhhaaaaat is it you are waking me ups for?" He moaned as his eyes peeled open to meet the face of his aye aye.

"Sorry your majesty, but you made the rules, no not alerting the king of new things going on." Maurice said tiredly,

"Ugh Well be making them NOT happen Maurice! I was dreaming of my dear JJ and all of the wonderful things we would be doing together!" Julien gave him a weak frown as he sat up, the cold air sending a shiver through his aye aye rolled his eyes,

"Something's making a noise and its not just me, listen." The ringtail lazily put a paw to his ear and his orange and yellow eyes scanned the area as he waited impatiently for it to come. Soon a loud moan was heard, sending the two lemurs into the air suddenly.

Julien, "Maurice! There are being ghostly presences around us! Do not be letting them near my crown!" He said protectively guarding his head accessory with his paws as he looked about frantically. The shorter lemur gave him a look, forcing the tall mammal to sigh and roll his eyes,

"Okay yeah Maurice I'm wrong! Anything else you're large booty wanted to clarify?" He said sarcastically as another cry sent them both leaping off the bounce castle and onto the grass of their habitat. Maurice squinted his eyes and laid a paw over his eyebrows as he looked forward.

"Julien look! Its coming from over there! He said pointing towards the south end corner of the zoo. Julien leaned forward, his eyes narrowing to see into the darkened corner of the zoo. The two African mammals slowly approached the noise, Julien following behind his trusty aid Maurice as they came closer and closer to the noise.

Maurice, "What could it be? This habitat's been abandoned for almost a year." He said, that sentence making his king shiver frightfully.

"Eh Maurice how about we just leave whatever it is alone hmm?" Maurice kept forward, he intended to get his rest sooner than later and the only way for that was to get his questions answered now. Julien brought his paws to his muzzle, whimpering, he didn't like having to explore in the dark when he didn't know what he was up against. Back in his homeland, the Foosa had always made it their duty to hide in the shadows while unsuspecting lemurs wandered off into their territory. This was hitting too close to home for the ringtail.

"Maurice please I am begging may we go home now?" He asked in a high pitched voice, no lamps seemed to be working in this area, everything was dark and suspicious to the eye, Maurice turned to his king,

"Julien calm down, I'm right here okay? I just wanna find out what's over here and we can leave okay?" He said in a soothing voice to smooth over his leader's nerves, giving a comforting pat on the lemur's back for reassurance. He continued to shake in fear, Maurice took both his paws and held him in place for a sec until he felt the lemur's nerves settle within a few minutes. Julien hung his head and lifted and underhand paw, signifying to proceed, Maurice climbed atop the fence to the old enclosure and looked around. It helped alot being a nocturnal creature, giving the lemur the advantage of seeing in the dark, as he scanned over the habitat, he caught the motion of something moving near the back of the enclosure. He waved for his king to follow and join him as they looked into what was causing the scary noises of the night. Stopping a few feet away, the gray lemurs both stared at the noise making creature.

Sitting at the back of the habitat was what looked to be a small puppy, Maurice looked at the sign at the front of the enclosure,

**Gray Wolf Habitat**

For its feared and respected name, the young one before the two mammals seemed less than frightening. They approached quietly and slowly, the young pup raised his head at the sound of their footsteps and tried to let out a howl, which came out as a scared whine. Maurice took a seat beside the dog,

"Hey, are you new here?" The pup backed away and turned from them, trying to hide his face in the remaining lumber pile left from the unfinished work on the habitat. Maurice tried again to make conversation with the wolf child.

"Whats you're name? Mine's Maurice, this is Julien." The ringtail gave a friendly wave, the wild canine continued to face the pile yet uttered a single word,

"Toby"

"Ah, Toby, well we're not gonna hurt you, we live in this place too, over in the far end of the zoo over there." He said in a warm voice, pointing a finger in the direction of the lemur habitat. Julien took a look around the enclosure before stepping up next to the wolf pup and speaking.

"Maurice, no wonder he is being the scared, there is no one here to be doing the all night parties with, he is alone here." The wolf's head pulled slightly back from the woodpile, he sniffled as he turned an eye to the two lemurs.

"I got taken away from my mom at our home, I don't even know where she is." He said, the pup's eyes watering as he closed them to suppress his tears, Julien's ears fell a tad as he heard that, he knew Maurice and Mort and even himself missed their homeland once in a while. Maurice stood up and walked over to Julien and began whispering in his ear as the child sat staring back at the woodpile. The crowned lemur's eyes darted back and forth before growing large with excitement as a smile grew on his face.

"Maurice that is being a fanTASTical idea!" He directed his attention toward the wolf pup,

"You there, you are alone here yes?" The pup looked up at him and nodded,

"Are you wanting to come stay with us for the night? It can be like a sleepingover!" He said with excitement in his voice, clapping his black paws together and jumping in the air. The pup looked around the dark enclosure before turning back to them.

"You, you won't eat me right?" Maurice and Julien couldn't help but laugh at the pup's innocence before shaking their heads and smiling. The pup's eyes brightened, his depressed state soon departing as the lemurs quickly led him out of the enclosure. Toby followed the two small mammals toward a large light up area surrounded by a brick fence, he watched the two lemurs jump up and over the wall before trying himself.

*WHAM* His small fuzzy skull connected with the wall as he attempted to leap up over the fence, Julien jumped down and stood next to him.

"You gotta be using your knees, try again and I will be helping you." The puppy took a few steps back and gave the fence a running start, when it looked as though he undershot it, the lemur jumped underneath the pup, using his crouched momentum to heave the canine over the fence and inside the lemur habitat. Jumping over the fence once more the crowned lemur began the royal tour for the wolf.

"If you see up there is my royal throne, and my royal smoothie bar where Maurice makes my delicious mango smoothies! Oh and this is the royal bouncy!" He exclaimed jumping up onto the inflatable castle, flying high into the air unknowingly sending Mort flying off and out of the castle while he slept unaware of being airborne.

Toby watched in growing excitement as he watched the lemur bounce up and down several times before landing back on his feet again before them. Toby took a cautious step onto the castle floor, feeling his paw push down onto the compressed air inside it. Gaining courage he hopped atop the rest of the way on four shaky paws as he began to slowly try and push down and up, feeling the rubber house counteracting his motions, bringing him higher and higher off the ground. He actually began to chuckle in amusement as he continued to spring up and down into the air momentum building with every courageous leap. The two lemurs joined in as the bouncing continued for several minutes, laughter made a pleasant appearance as Toby began feeling more and more comfortable with the two other mammals. They eventually found themselves out of breath as they fell to the floor of the bounce house lying on their backs and gasping for air. Toby rolled over to face King Julien and Maurice, Julien was the first to catch his breath.

"*gasp* Haha are you feeling much better?" He asked. Toby smiled and nodded vigorously as he scooted up to Julien and gave a confirming lick on his face.

"Gah you're having the dog breath stop! haha" He pleaded as Toby continued to give him sloppy kisses no matter his struggling to fight them. He finally laid back down onto his back, paws in the air as he turned to them,

"Guys, would, would you possibly let me stay here overnight? I just don't wanna go back yet, its dark and cold over there, not to mention scary. " Maurice looked over at Julien who made a thinking face, putting a paw to his jaw in thought.

"I am thinking it would be fine for at least one night." He said shrugging with his paws raising in the air in a stretching motion as he let out a yawn. Toby lit up with a smile as he scooted in next to the lemurs as they got themselves comfy on the bouncy floor. The young wolf curled up in between Julien and Maurice and tucked his blue eyes shut, pulling his fluffy tail in towards himself, the steady sound of each others breathing soon pulling him into slumber.

End.

A/N, Ah it feels good to get this finally out there after all this time. I wanted to give my OC at least a decent bit of a backstory before the events of the sequel story By Your Side, I hope everyone could enjoy this and review if you please, I love to hear your thoughts and opinions!


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